‘I save Council D350,000 fuel expenses per year’

Mayor Bensouda claimed such during a televised interview with Eye Africa TV. He told the Eye Africa presenter that he is an elected official and whatever he does, good or bad, he is doing it for himself because it determines whether he wins or loses in the next election.

He argued that there are samples he put in place, saying: “When I came, I found out the weekly fuel for the mayor was amounting to D11,250. I realised that was too much. Where will I go within the KMC that would require D11,250 per week? Each month, it will be D45,000. That is fuel for just one car.

He added: “If my fuel amounts to that, then the CEO’s will be around D30,000, another director’s fuel will be D25,000, a manager’s fuel would be D20,000 and that is how it would go, because it will begin from the highest officer.

“So when I came, I cut it down from D11,250 to D5,000 per week. You know, automatically the CEO’s fuel will also go down and all those who follow. If you calculate that in terms of money, it is D350,000 per year that I have saved for my fuel alone. I could have taken the fuel, used D5,000 for my car and sold D6,250. Who would have known it? Nobody asks me for a receipt. If you look at that for six years, that is over D6.5 million.

Talib argued that is why when critics say he was sending people to spend money, he laughs because he knew, for instance, he could have maintained the amount for fuel and used it as he wished and would be within the confines of his right.